All time drool: Creme Brûlée

It’s a sweet dish also known as Burnt cream, trinity cream, crema catalana, or Cambridge cream. Everyone has their own names to remember it. This is a dessert made up of a rich custard base topped with a layer of caramelized sugar. It’s a creamy dessert that is unrivaled by most desserts.

To enjoy the dish, it should be served chilled. You will need fresh cream, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract to prepare Crème Brulee. It is mainly prepared with custard and caramel. The custard can be any flavor you like, vanilla or chocolate or anything.

Crème Brulee is often served in ramekins. It’s a dish served with small portions of the dessert individually. There are two ways of preparing crème Brulee. One common format way is to prepare the custard the way it should be. Then put it in a ramekin, which should be placed into a large pan of half filled hot/boiling water for double boiling method. Place it in the oven until the centre is wobbly and edges are set.

Let’s learn how to make custard first. There are many ways of preparing it. Choose a way you feel is easy.

Whisk the egg yolks with sugar over the double boiling method, and then slowly mix the sugar in it. Turn off the heat; let it cool down a little so that vanilla can be added into it. After the whole mixture is ready, freeze it. The custard is ready!

Temper the egg yolk and sugar mixture with the hot cream. It’s a heat treatment method. For example brief frying of spices in oil or ghee to release their aroma. It’s also called chaunk or tadka in Hindi. Likewise mixing the egg yolk/sugar mixture in the hot cream. Then add the vanilla to it. That gives the custard a perfect taste and doesn’t make it all mixed up.

There is also a cold method. Where the egg yolks and sugar whisked together until it reaches the ribbon stage. This means that the mixture should look pale yellow, and when you lift the whisker the batter should fall in a ribbon shape. It should hold its shape for a few minutes. Cold heavy cream is then mixed in that yolk mixture. Mix it thorough and then add the vanilla to it.

The second way is to prepare the whole of it together.

Let’s see how it goes.

Crème Brulee is a sweetened mixture of cream and egg yolks. Which is heated until it becomes thick. Then it is poured in shallow single serving ceramic dish called ramekins and is chilled before serving. It can be refrigerated for 30-45 minutes. It is chilled so that it becomes stable and firm. After poured in ceramic dish sugar is sprinkled on it. That sugar is then heated with the help of hot iron rod for a few seconds. This caramelizes the sugar, thus forming a crispy, thin crust.

Note- sugar which is too shaggy won’t caramelize easily. It will stay uncooked at the top of your Brulee. The best you can use for topping off the crème Brulee is superfine sugar. It’s seen as tiny crystals and it caramelizes fast and easily.

Some people use broiler to heat the sugar but that would uneven the result and also warm up the inside custard. A blowtorch is the best thing to melt the sugar above and give the thin crispy effect, and also creating a nicely brown look.

When you come to thinking- what is the need of heating the sugar and creating the crispy crust?

Well it’s not only the appearance but the sound of it. The sound of snap from a spoon breaking through the crust makes the tongue impatience to taste it by getting all watery. And what’s more better than cold dessert, if you want crème Brulee cold- refrigerate it for about 30-45 minutes before serving as mentioned above. But if refrigerated more than that, then it would soften the crispy crust.

Preparing the crème Brulee would save you the time when you are expecting people at your home. Freeze the custard from before. At time of serving, remove the custard from freezer let it come to room temperature. Sprinkle the sugar and heat it for the crispy crust. The heat will thaw them enough so that crème Brulee would be icy cold, but not frozen.